We recently got hold of the Chinese version of the Xiaomi 4K Yi camera. Initially the Chinese menus proved to be a bit of a challenge until we got hold of the video below that walks you through the English and Chinese menu systems side by side.

And even then we were missing our native English menus so we went digging further find out how to anglicize our Xiaomi experience.

Look at the serial number at the bottom of your camera, right below the little QR code image. See if it starts with Z16V12L or Z16V13L as the update is intended for these 2 models.

Click on Download.

Rename the downloaded file to “firmware_force.bin”, and copy it to the root of a clean SD Card.

Insert the SD card into your Xiaomi camera while it is off.

Ensure your battery has 50% charge, and for safety sake, connect the camera onto its power cable.

Turn on the camera, a firmware update will start.

When done, remove the card, firmware should be flashed and the menus on the camera will be in English.

Wifi Setup

I had some problems setting up Wifi, but after about 5 minutes of rebooting both phone and camera I came right.

Here are the steps:

Turn on the camera.

Tap on the setup icon at the bottom right of the back screen.

Tap on the 2nd Settings icon, middle left.

Turn Wifi on, and set Wifi to 2.4G (select 5G if your phone can handle it).

Exit back to the video screen. Slide your finger down on the back screen, click on the Wifi icon to activate.

6. Wifi icon should turn green. Dismiss the screen with the Wifi on by swiping up.

7. The camera is now broadcasting a Wifi hotspot. To make pairing easier through the app I opened the Wifi settings on my phone and connected to the camera’s hotspot name: YDXJ_XXXXXXX where XXXXXXX represents the last 7 digits of your camera serial (found at the bottom of your camera).

8. To connect the phone app to the camera: Download the “Yi Action” app.

9. Click the green button center bottom.10. Click on on the picture of the 4K camera. You should hear a beep from the camera, then a connection progress indicator will show in the smartphone, and just after that a connection should be established.

I just did this to my Xiaomi Yi 4K using the newest 1.4 firmware and the “illegal version” message popped up. I’m guessing that this will be a thing for the upcoming firmware updates as well and thus this will only work with the 1.3.3 update file. So note to anyone who accidentally did this with any higher version, just re-flash your cam with the 1.3.3 file and you’ll be fine.

Which version did u use?
I cannot find the 1.3.3 update, there is a 1.0.13 to 1.4.0 and to 1.4.14

I tried all 3 of them.
1.4.14 –> nothing happened at all
1.4.0 –> update was installed, changed to English successfully but message “Illegal version” appeared
1.0.13 –> error occurs when stating cam, no update

Yi just told me on their FB page that they won’t be allowing English to be used on their Chinese devices. For ‘Marketing Strategy’ reasons. Complete bs. Not allowing buyers to choose the language of their device, with no mention of that fact on their website, is extremely bad service. I’ve already requested a refund.

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